beersmith2.1 (http://beersmith.com/order/?utm_source=getresponse&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beersmith_blog&utm_content=%5BBSHB%5D%20BeerSmith%20Black%20Friday%20Sale%20-%20Ends%20Tuesday) software package is on sale and reduced to $19.95 until tuesday 27th.
Only ever used free software, what more do you get with this.
its seriously Homebrewing paint by numbers from construction of recipes, Mash Equipment profile through to Carbonation. I love it and takes a huge amount of guesswork out of all grain, especially when it comes to straying on lighter ales and lagers. There is an evaluation copy, give it a go.
Like any Sat Nav however it won't drive the car, just tells you how to get there and you still need to keep your eyes on the road ;)
I'm using Brewmate (http://www.brewmate.net/) at the minute and it's fairly comprehensive and easy to use software as far as I can see.
I'm just wondering what extra the paid for software will give you?
I've been using beersmith since I started brewing all grain. I havent tried anything else so I have nothing to compare it to but I really like beersmith and think its worth the cash.
Lately he has also added a website to sync and share recipes to and mobile apps which let you do handy things like view your recipes on your phone and use a few extra tools and calculators on the go.
I got Beersmith a while back, but found it confusing and used brewmate.
More recently I started into Beersmith again and find it to be an excellent tool.
You're the man to ask then John, what more does it offer than Brewmate?
As ciderhead says above, lots of nice features.
There are lots of features, some of which I like are...
Flexibility of customising your brewing equipment.
Easily change your mashing profile.
Add/Remove/edit Ingredients.
Brewday timers.
One of the things that put me off was the cluttered interface, too many ways of doing the same thing. however it is possible to turn off some of these.
Version 2.2 is out and has a more pleasant userface and a great little search function, existing users upgrade for free, mobile update coming soon.
Brads promo
• Ability to search all local recipes by ingredient, style or name
• Cloud search built into the program (search thousands of recipes online)
• Automatic archiving of all recipe changes
• A cleaner interface, and you can save your favorite views
• IBU calculation of whirlpool/steeped hops and support for non-fermentable ingredients
I wasn't fond of the last interface, very poor keyboard control.
i.e. Delete Key doesn't work, you had to Click on Delete. Damn mice.
Whats a keyboard? are you an Alt this and Cntrl that king? ;D